Sci-fi Column by Gavin Grant

Prolific bestseller Orson Scott Card returns this month with The Crystal City (Tor, $25.95, 384 pages, ISBN 0312864833), the sixth in his Alvin Maker series of alternate historical fantasies. Card's fans have been waiting a long time for this: Seventh Son, the first book in the series, was published in 1987 and the most recent, Heartfire, five years ago. Card set himself a huge task early in...